The Clock Runs Away
by Areku
Summary: Well, after reading the reviews to 'Jim jumps off a cliff' my brother sat down and thought up a sequel. So here are more of Jim's adventures with the...well, clock.


I made a very embarrassing mistake, which Phoenix was so kind as to point out. So I've corrected it and am posting it again.  
  
********************  
  
Some of you have already read of Jim's encounter with the clock that told the time every minute in 'Jim jumps off a cliff'. This story is an attempt to continue the timeline set up by the former tale. If you did not enjoy the original 'Jim jumps off a cliff' I consider it unlikely that you will enjoy this sequel. This story does have less of the unrealistic 'the clock sprouts wings' etc, and so the material may be considered more true to the show. But I am hardly unbiased judge. If it so pleases you, read on.  
  
So without further ado:  
  
  
  
The Clock Runs Away  
  
a sequel too:  
  
Jim Jumps off a cliff  
  
Original concept by Curtis  
  
Written and posted by Areku  
  
  
  
*****  
  
Jim was sitting at his laptop when Gene came in.  
  
"Hey Jim, have you got anything good for me now?"  
  
Silence, that lasted for a whole minute.  
  
Then Gene noticed, "Where'd that clock go? The one that you said you hated, that announced the time every minute."  
  
Jim sniffed, "He...did his duty and went home..."  
  
"Whatever. Oh yeah, here I brought you this." Gene dumped a box onto the floor next to Jim's chair, and left the room.  
  
Jim opened the box.  
  
"1:50 am" said the clock smiling up at him.  
  
It was indeed the old grandfather clock that had disappeared a short time before. Jim was quite happy, except for the vague feeling of repetition that kept nagging at him.  
  
The clock was placed in it's old spot that it held before that eventful night. (If you do not remember that night please refer to 'Jim jumps off a cliff')  
  
Jim gazed into it's face for awhile, and watched as the second hand went from tick to tick. Then he listened, quite happily to the clock announce "1:51 AM"  
  
Jim sighed contentedly; everything was back to normal.  
  
*****  
  
Next day...  
  
As usual Gene walked in, placed a small box on the floor and cheerfully greeted his partner "Hey Jim!"  
  
His partner, none too happy about the box Gene brought, looked up, "Now what did you buy that we can't afford?" Jim growled. "Is there a bill that I have to sign? Did you use my name again cause your account was maxed out? Well????!!!"  
  
Gene laughed, "Nothing like that this time. What makes you think I'm so irresponsible I'd max out my account?"  
  
"Well that's what it was yesterday."  
  
Gene scowled, "Well yeah, but you said we needed that micro chip for the viewer on the phone."  
  
"But I didn't want the 50,000 wulong one!"  
  
Gene twitched, and decided that a subject change wouldn't be a bad idea right about now, "Anyway I got you this." He indicated the box. "That other one was getting old."  
  
Jim looked at the box, "What is it?"  
  
"A new clock."  
  
*****  
  
The new clock, which had a digital face, was hooked up on the desk next to Jim's laptop. At the change of each minute the clock would announce the time. The old clock and the new clock were both accurate in telling the time, but when it came to announcing the time the new clock was faster. The old clock would begin to speak, but the new clock would cut in and state the hour and minute before the old clock finished.  
  
So most of the day sounded about like this:  
  
The old clock said, "9:0..."  
  
The new clock cut in, "900am."  
  
The old clock finished, "0, AM."  
  
A minute latter  
  
The old clock said, "9:..."  
  
The new clock cut in "901am"  
  
The old clock finished, "01 AM."  
  
Or something like that.  
  
Not only did the new clock tell the time faster, but it also got all the attention. Jim was always adjusting the buttons, or setting the alarm. Sometimes it seemed that Jim had forgotten about the old clock entirely. So under these frustrating circumstances the old clock continued to work, because it was his duty.  
  
Then one day the old clock just wasn't there anymore. Jim didn't even notice at first, he sat down and started to work.  
  
At the change of every minute the new clock would announce the time. Jim was now quite use to this and if he didn't want to hear the time every minute he would wear earplugs. Don't ask me why he didn't think of this when he was first trying to work with the old clock around.  
  
For awhile, he liked the new clock, and was quite content. It did tell the time faster, in a less distracting manner, so Jim and the new clock got along quite well.  
  
When he wanted to hear the time he took the earplugs out and the new clock would say '253am' or some other such thing. After some time of this the clock was telling the time so fast that all the words slurred together more and more. Instead of hearing the complete time, a few of the digits would be missing, or the am/pm would be absent.  
  
This got increasingly annoying, and Jim started to wonder where the old grandfather clock was. He looked all over the building, and it wasn't there. He really wanted the old clock so it could repeat the time in a slower more understandable way. Unfortunately, it was no where to be found.  
  
So Jim suffered with the new clock, continually thinking of how much more he liked the old clock. One thing in particular that struck him was that the new clock didn't have a face, not a face like the old clock. It didn't have any expressions, it couldn't frown or smile like the other clock. It was just a bunch of numbers, and numbers express very little or nothing at all.  
  
Then Jim remembered how the old grandfather clock saved his life back at the cliff, and a wave of guilt flooded over him. He was so sorry he had forgotten the old clock he dropped his work immediately and determined to set out to find it. After all how far could a clock go?  
  
*****  
  
Gene was in an armory story, or would that be and artillery store, you know the kind that sells the big guns and bullets to use with the big guns. He was doing his best to spend as much money as possible on as few items as possible, and the cashier was fully prepared to aide him in this pursuit. It is impossible to say just how many times the cashier rung up Gene's order the wrong way, charged him the wrong amount, or told the register Gene was paying in a different method then Gene had stated. If you couldn't tell, it was training day.  
  
The cashier was ringing Gene's order up again, "Do you want a bag for that?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh yeah, yeah, I remember now, you didn't want a bag."  
  
Gene was ready to scream 'just ring the * order up the right way you *', but he was too nice to say it. Instead he looked around the store trying to not think about how much he would like to kill the cashier.  
  
"Now how did you want that wrapped again?"  
  
"I didn't want it wrapped, or bagged, or double bagged, or whatever else you'll think up."  
  
Gene noticed a piece of merchandise that would be considered extremely strange for an armory store to stock. That piece of merchandise happened to be an antique grandfather clock, that insisted on telling the exact hour and minute at the change of each minute.  
  
"Oh yeah, yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."  
  
The presence of the clock at first puzzled Gene, until he considered Jim's penny-pinching nature and remembered that he now had a newer more accurate clock. Jim obviously must have sold the old clock to any store that would pay a good price, so that he, Gene, would have more money to spend.  
  
"I think you were paying by cash...No, no it was a card."  
  
This Gene found extremely thoughtful, and gave himself a mental sticky note reminding him to ask Jim for the money he received from the sale of the clock to pay for dinner the next night.  
  
"I can't cash bounty credits here...how where you going to pay again?"  
  
"It was an item exchange."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I brought the 2-62 single barrel laser cannon back, it was malfunctioning, and you said you couldn't give me cash, it had to be an item exchange."  
  
"You're right, you're right..."  
  
Gene was now seething and ready to bite the cashier's head off.  
  
"I think that laser cannon was cheaper than your...uh...today's purchase."  
  
Gene's last string broke, "Whatever! Just ring the * * order up you *!!"  
  
The cashier broke down in tears, and called the manager over. I think we should really be leaving poor Gene there and move on to the next scene, because he's going to be there for quite a bit longer and it's rather boring to read ALL of what conspired in the Gene/manager interaction.  
  
*****  
  
When Gene got back to Starwind and Hawking enterprises he dumped his purchases on the sofa and looked around for dinner, which he assumed Jim was cooking. Dinner had not been made, and Jim was nowhere to be found, so Gene went into the kitchen to try and find some packaged goodies that he could just heat up. With much grumbling he made HIS OWN dinner, and sat down and ate it.  
  
After he had been well fed, he noticed Jim's absence. He only noticed this because he wanted the money from the sale of the grandfather clock, so he could go out and spend it on an evening's...entertainment. So with a bit more grumbling he sat around for the rest of the evening waiting for Jim to come back, then around 100a (as the new clock said) he gave up and went to bed.  
  
Jim wasn't back for breakfast. So Gene went out and did something that might resemble work, meaning wandering around somewhere looking for suspicious people whom might have a bounty on their head.  
  
Jim wasn't back for dinner, and he wasn't back for all that evening.  
  
At breakfast the next day Jim was still gone.  
  
Lunch...nope.  
  
Dinner...not there.  
  
Breakfast...no.  
  
Finally, the evening of the third day, Jim walked in; at which time he was cold, wet, and hungry. He had spent all his money trying to buy information on the clock, and came back fruitless and depressed. So when he came in he dumped his jacket on the floor and sat down at the table.  
  
"Hey Jim, where've ya been?"  
  
Poor little Jimmy wasn't in the mood to talk right then. He had a very hard time of it, looking for the clock and all. Instead of responding he slumped further forward in his chair till his head hit the table.  
  
Gene, being the playful lively person that he was, instead of deciding that Jim really just wanted to sleep right now, considered this the best time to torment him. "So, I'm out of money, did you get me any more chips?" That question was always a sure way to get Jim up.  
  
Jim rolled his head back and forth on the table, indicating a 'no'.  
  
"I took out a mortgage on the building to pay for a 1,000,000 wulong night, are you sure?" He had not, actually, but just thought it would be fun to try and get Jim steamed.  
  
Another no.  
  
No fun at all. The little boy seemed too dead to respond to anything. Fine then, Gene would just have to go out to have some fun, but he needed some money to do it. He was going to ask Jim something about money and awhile ago it seemed very important...But he couldn't quite remember what it was he wanted...All he could remembered was the money part, but that didn't help because everything was about money.  
  
"86p," said the new clock  
  
That struck a bell, and Gene remembered, "Oh yeah, and did you sell that grandfather clock to weapons dealer?"  
  
Jim looked up, "No, why?"  
  
"That's weird...did you sell it?"  
  
Jim shook his head slowly.  
  
"Huh, then there must be quite a few clocks laying around that like to tell the time every minute."  
  
"WHY!" Jim was fully alert now and jumped to his feet, "WHAT'S GOING ON? WHERE'S CLOCK?"  
  
"87p," said the clock  
  
"Hey, take it easy. I saw a clock like that old one at the weapons dealer, the dealer you said not to go to because all their stuff was overpriced."  
  
If Jim was not TOTALLY focused on what was said about the clock he may have noticed the 'weapons dealer that you said not go to' part of Gene's statement, but as I said he was more interested in the clock.  
  
Without further discussion Jim got up and ran out of the building.  
  
*****  
  
Jim arrived at the weapons dealer exactly a half an hour after he set out. He pushed open the door to hear- "8:37 PM"  
  
He let out a sigh of contentment, it was good to hear the time told the right way again. But the clock seemed downcast and unhappy. It's face wore a huge frown, and the water residue on it's face gave the impression that it had been crying long and hard.  
  
Jim ran up to the clock. "Poor clock," he said, looking up into it's face, "I'm so sorry I was mean and evil to you, and I'll never do it again!" With that he walked purposefully up to the counter were the cashier in training had been watching him.  
  
"I'd like to buy that clock." he pointed to the grandfather clock.  
  
The cashier leaned over the counter a looked at the clock. "Ummmmm, okay...I didn't even know we had it for sale." he let out a fake laugh, "I'm not sure how much it is...let me check the log." He promptly pulled out a VERY thick book that contained a record of everything that the store sold and for what price.  
  
"8:38 PM" said the clock.  
  
Jim drummed his fingers on the counter and watched the cashier slowly flip the pages.  
  
"8:39 PM" said the clock.  
  
I think was should skip forward a couple minutes, because the log was a very thick book and it took awhile for the cashier to get all the way through it.  
  
"8:50 PM" said the clock.  
  
Jim was rubbing his eyebrows in frustration, wishing with all his might that he could just GET OUT OF THERE! "Look," Jim said to the cashier, trying his best to suppress the anger and irritation at the long wait, "I'm in a hurry, can't you see the poor clock doesn't like it here. I want to take it home and clean it up, if you don't know how much it is could you please call the manager over or something!"  
  
The cashier was none to happy about the time wasted in looking for the clock's price and number either, "It's not my fault! The clock isn't in the log. If it isn't in the log it's not for sale."  
  
"8:51pm" said the clock.  
  
"You don't get it. The clock was mine, and then it..." Jim hesitated, 'ran away' just didn't sound right, and the cashier was already looking at him funny. Jim got the impression that the trainee had noticed him talking to the clock earlier and thought he was a nutcase. "It was...stolen!"  
  
"Oh dear, did you file with the police?"  
  
"No. I didn't want to bother with them, I just want my clock back."  
  
"I see...ummm...let me talk to the manager or something."  
  
"8:52pm"  
  
Then came another wait, while the cashier looked around for the manager while poor Jim stood at the counter and brooded on how much he wanted to just get the clock and go home.  
  
"9:04pm" said the clock.  
  
Then at last the cashier came back with a man in a suit. Jim assumed he was the manager.  
  
"So you want to bye that clock?" said the manager like dude in a suit.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well it wasn't for sale, but I guess I could let it go for the small sum of 5.02 wulong." The manager was more than happy to get rid of it; he had been getting complaints about it from the cashiers and the customers for a long time. He had never bought the clock; it just showed up one day, so he wasn't picky about what he sold it for as long as he could get rid of it.  
  
"9:05pm" said the clock. He was smiling slightly, an off balanced smile, but still a smile.  
  
"That'd be great." Jim smiled; of course he had 5.02 wulong. He should have way more than that saved up. He stuck his hand in his pocket and fished around till he found his rather thin wallet. Then he open it up and his smile slowly faded from his face as he realized he didn't have any money. He had spent it all looking for clock, and trying to pay for information about clock. "I don't have the money with me, so could I come back in a day or two and pick it up?"  
  
"Sure, but I can't make any guarantees it will still be here by that time." The manager was preparing to donate it to the scrap yard if he couldn't sell it very soon.  
  
"Great." Jim left.  
  
"9:07 PM" said the clock. The prospect of being bought by Jim had brightened its countenance.  
  
*****  
  
Jim got back to the office and franticly dug for money. Unfortunately there was little or nothing available in the building. So tired and very depressed he abandoned the search at '12am' (by the new clock's count) and went to bed.  
  
The next day he got up bright and early to go out and earn money, which he succeeded in doing. Then around five o' clock in the afternoon he went back to the weapons store. As he pulled out his money the cashier told him that the clock had been sold. Despair swirled with growing frustration and Jim left the store.  
  
He had looked so long, and so hard for the clock, and then when he finally thought he could get it back it slipped away again. Maybe, he thought, he should just give up and forget about the clock. Maybe after the appearance of the new clock, the old clock would never want to come back again. Maybe it was all hopeless...and so on.  
  
Jim opened the door to 'Starwind and Hawking enterprises and walked in. Then he noticed Gene was slumped over something leaned up against the table, and he had a screwdriver.  
  
"What are you doing Gene?" The mildest curiosity was building in the back of Jim's mind.  
  
"Ah I bought this thing so I could use the parts to repairs some of the guns. Now if this * thing would just open up!" Gene banged the screwdriver on surface of the object he was trying to unscrew.  
  
Jim walked closer just to see that the object Gene was trying to dissect for use as spare parts, was...  
  
The grandfather clock.  
  
"7:19pm" said the clock.  
  
His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to protest but no words came out, his horror was so great.  
  
Gene tried to turn the screwdriver again, and it still wouldn't budge. Angrily he threw the screwdriver across the room. Then he turned on Jim like he was the cause of all Gene's misery, "Where've you been all day?"  
  
That brought his voice back, "I was working...to buy...clock. You were going to kill him weren't you!"  
  
"I wouldn't say kill, but yeah."  
  
"7:20 PM" said the clock.  
  
"Gene how could you! I thought we were partners!"  
  
Gene snorted, "How was I supposed to know you'd flip out?!"  
  
"Just...quit taking apart clock and... go do whatever it is you normally do at night."  
  
"7:21pm" said the clock.  
  
"Fine!" Gene picked up his cape/coat thing and started walking toward the door. Before he stepped out the door he stopped and turned back, "But I'll need some money."  
  
"Here, take it please, and get out of here!" Jim threw his days earnings at Gene. Gene picked up the chips, smiled, and left.  
  
When they were alone, Jim looked affectionately at the clock. If it were not restricted by the time, the clock would have smiled back at him.  
  
Jim stood it up and slowly pulled it back to were it stood before the arrival of the new clock.  
  
"7:2..." began the clock.  
  
"79m" said the new clock.  
  
"9 PM" finished the new clock. (And if you're wondering about the jump in time from 22-29 lets just say that's how long it took Jim to move the clock.)  
  
Jim scowled at the new clock. The old clock scowled profusely at the new clock.  
  
That was it, that awful digital clock would have to go...and Jim knew just where to put it.  
  
*****  
  
Gene went into his room and flopped down on the bed. He was sooo tired; all he wanted to do was sleep for the next three days. He closed his eyes.  
  
"36a" said the clock.  
  
Gene's eyes snapped open, he looked around the room for a second. Then his eyes dropped shut and he prepared to go off to wonderland.  
  
"37a" said the clock.  
  
Gene's eyes snapped open again, but this time he waited to hear the voice again.  
  
"38a" said the clock, exactly a minute after he last announced the time. It came from deep under the bed, behind the pile of garbage and cloths that had accumulated in that very spot.  
  
Gene groaned as he realized what was going on, and that he'd have to listen to it for the rest of the night. He rolled up in his blankets and covered his head with the pillow.  
  
"39a" said the clock, and if it could it would have been smiling.  
  
  
  
END  
I think...  
  
  
  
AN The fame really went to the poor boy's head. ^_^ When I showed him all the kind reviews the last piece received he IMMEDIATELY started thinking up ideas for a sequel. (Miranda it was all because you said 'please continue' or was it 'write some more' ;) If there are a couple good reviews for this fic too, he'll probably think up another idea for a sequel. I think I'll be writing sequels to 'Jim jumps off a Cliff' for the rest of my fanfic career.  
  
Please review or contact me at Areku_kun@yahoo.com  
  
All response will go back to the original creator and may further push the poor boy's brain into dilutions of fame and fortune.  
  
One more thing, I wrote up a contract that my beloved brother Curtis and I sighed for a co-authorship type thing. So you can expect MORE from us soon.  
  
Disclaimer, we don't own Outlaw Star. Please alert me if these pitiful ramblings are in violation of the copyright laws, if they are I will take this down. Please don't sue me!!!!! I had to give my last $.15 to my brother to pay for the concept of this fic. 


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